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August 27, 2003

Bush pretends.... on air quality

Many of you have probably already heard about this, but I needed to wait on posting about it until I was a bit calmer.

I've posted before on Bush the pretender, but I think this one really takes the cake. Rather than provide people with accurate and necessary warnings about the air quality in areas of New York City following the 9/11 attacks, the White House pushed the EPA to put on some rose-coloured glasses and take a second look

The White House Office of Environmental Quality "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" from news releases, said the report, released late Thursday by the EPA's inspector general office, an internal watchdog.

For instance, a draft EPA news release for Sept. 16, 2001, warned that the air near the attack site could contain higher levels of asbestos, a carcinogen, than is considered safe. After input from the White House office, the news release issued by the EPA two days later said the asbestos levels met government standards and were "not a cause for public concern."

A New York lawmaker charged that the White House hid crucial information that could have helped residents and workers protect their health.
"EPA officials lied when they initially were telling people that the air was safe," said Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the attack site, which became known as Ground Zero. "That's an outrage."

Nadler suggested that the White House allowed economic concerns, such as the desire to reopen Wall Street, to take precedence over public health.

Bush? Let business interests take precedence over actual people? Nah, couldn't happen! (pardon me whilst I go barf)

Senator Hillary Clinton has called for investigations into the report and it's conclusions.

"I don't think any of us ever expected to find out ... that our government would knowingly deceive us about something as sacred as the air we breathe, outdoors and indoors," she said in a speech on the steps of City Hall.

"They knew and they didn't tell us the truth, and the White House told them not to tell us the truth," Clinton said, adding that she wants to find out who was responsible for pressuring the EPA.

I remember looking at the plume of smoke from the attacks and collapse and wondering how anyone could say that air would be "ok" to breathe, and its infuriating to learn that it was because the White House wanted a more reassuring report that warnings were taken out of the information being given to the people of New York City by the EPA. Doesn't that qualify as some kind of a "high crime or misdemeanor"? It should.

Posted by thorswitch at August 27, 2003 06:02 PM

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